


Home Is Where The Heart Is

by CatNip_618



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, F/M, Godric's Hollow, Horcrux Hunting, James Potter Lives, Lily Evans Potter Lives, Major Character Undeath, Resurrection, Second War with Voldemort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28445394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatNip_618/pseuds/CatNip_618
Summary: Harry and Hermione’s visit to Godric’s Hollow changes the course of history when Harry cries on his parents’ graves, awakening an ancient magic that brings back what he yearned for seventeen years.His parents.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 11
Kudos: 35





	Home Is Where The Heart Is

**Home Is Where The Heart Is**

Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, in their Muggle disguises, stood in front of a marble tombstone that held the names of Harry’s parents.

_IN LOVING MEMORY:_

**JAMES POTTER**

BORN 27 MARCH 1960 -

DIED 31 OCTOBER 1980

**LILY POTTER**

BORN 30 JANUARY 1960 -

DIED 31 OCTOBER 1980

_THE LAST ENEMY THAT SHALL BE DESTROYED IS DEATH_

The pair had arrived on Christmas Eve to visit Godric’s Hollow to find Bathilda Bagshot to see if she had the Sword of Gryffindor so they could destroy the Horcruxes, but Harry wanted a moment with his parents, or rather, their graves, to maybe find closure.

Harry knelt, the knees of his jeans dampening with the snow, and brushed aside the white powder to dig his fingers into thecold soil. Hermione knelt beside him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, making sure to keep the Invisibility Cloak on both of them.

Harry felt tears well up in his eyes and he stifled a sob. He wiped the back of his hand under his nose, sniffling quietly.

“I wish they were here, Hermione.” He choked.

“I know, Harry.” Hermione said sadly.

Unbeknownst to either of them, a single teardrop of pure, untainted magic slipped from Harry’s eyes and fell to the soil, absorbing into the ground. Harry wiped his eyes and looked up at the tombstone, tracing their names carved into the faded marble.

Suddenly, there was a whisper of wind that billowed through the naked branches of the hibernating trees and through the two teens’ hair. It was warm and comforting, filled with magic and mystery.

“Did you feel that?” Hermione questioned in confusion. Harry had also felt the breeze but was clueless to what it meant. His hands still burrowed in the frozen soil, he let out a yelp of fear when he felt freezing cold fingers entwining with his own. Hermione heard his distress and let out a little shriek at the sight of pale white hands that were now emerging from deep underground, fingers clasped onto Harry’s.

A thin arm shot out from the ground at the right of the grave and the hand attached to it clutched firmly at Harry’s sleeve, as said young man tried not to hyperventilate, his eyes wide in terror. From the left came another set of hands and arms that were attached.

And from the hands and arms came the heads. Harry’s face went white and his jaw dropped at the sight of dirty, tangled red and messy black hair bursting from the ground of the Potter gravesite. And with the heads and hair came faces. The living body of Lily Potter, her face obscured by her ratty red hair, dragged itself out from six feet under and was draped across Harry’s legs. James Potter soon followed and lay in a heap at Hermione’s feet.

There was a deadly silence that followed. Harry had a hand clamped over his mouth to stop himself from screaming out his lungs at the fact that his supposedly dead parents had just pulled themselves out from the grave, breathing steadily but unconscious.

“H-Harry...” Hermione stuttered, breathless.

He turned to her with wide eyes and responded. “What?”

Hermione bit her lip. “They’re naked.” She whispered. Harry’s head snapped over to his mother and saw the smooth expanse of creamy white, yet dirty skin and he blushed, not wanting to see his parents naked as the day they were born so he quickly shed his jacket, leaving him in a thick jumper and a tee shirt, draping the jacket over his mother’s backside and legs. He saw Hermione doing the same with James, and was avoiding looking at the area she’d covered with her own winter jacket.

They sat in silence, debating on what to do. “We need to leave.” Hermione spoke. She inhaled tremulously, her lip wobbling. “They’ll freeze if we don’t do something. We need to get back to the Forest of Dean.” She gazed at the sleeping forms of the Potters. “Can you Side-Along, Harry?”

Harry nodded. Hermione instructed Harry to drape the Invisibility Cloak over himself and his mother, pulling the jacket over her shoulder and pulling her close to his side, while she Apparated first. With a sharp CRACK! after struggling to stand from the weight of a full grown man in her arms, she was gone and Harry also struggled to stand with the unconscious weight of his mother as he pictured the tent they’d left and turned on the spot, Apparating with another loud cracking noise.

They arrived right outside the wards Hermione had built and quickly shimmied the two older adults into the tent that was magically expanded in the interior. Removing by the Cloak, Harry laid his mother on the cot that used to be Ron’s and spread the thin blanket over her body so it would cover anything indecent. Hermione had already settled James into another cot with another rat-tag blanket.

Harry stepped away from his sleeping mother and looked at Hermione, who was looking at him, as if she were waiting for him to react. And react he did, by bursting into tears. Hermione wrapped her arms around him as he sobbed and cried, tears running down his cheeks.

“They’re alive!” Harry wept, “They’re alive!”

Hermione sighed her I’ve-got-something-to-tell-you sigh and patted his back. “Harry. This might’ve been dark magic. You’ve heard of the Inferius, right?”

Harry pulled from her arms, sniffling. “B-But they’re breathing. They’re not decaying and they’re asleep! I’ve seen Inferi before. I can tell, they’re alive!” His eyes widened, reality finally settling in. “They’re alive. I’ll be able to talk to them!” His voice went quiet as he muttered and grabbed at his now black hair. Neither had noticed that the Polyjuice had worn off. Hermione took ahold of her friend’s shoulders and shook him slightly. “Harry. Harry!”

Her friend looked into her brown eyes, attention finally gained. “Harry,” the girl sighed, “we need to think rationally. But first we need to take care of them and help them recover. They lost seventeen years of their lives and will be very disoriented and confused.”

Harry nodded. “Right. Right.” But Hermione knew his heart wasn’t in on it. All he wanted to do was to talk to them and spend time together and to see them awake and speaking.

So the duo devised a plan to have Harry hide when one or both of the Potters awaken so they didn’t get freaked out by the sight of a boy who looked exactly like their supposedly dead son. Hermione was a stranger and they hoped they wouldn’t freak out when they saw a young woman who they didn’t know. But it was already past midnight, so that meant it was Christmas Day and it meant the pair needed sleep. Hermione let Harry sleep on another cot, and since there were only three she kept watch on any intruders and was going to be there for Harry and the Potters when they awoke.

A few hours after midnight, Hermione was dozing lightly when she heard a groan. Whipping her head around so fast her neck almost cracked, she saw Lily stirring. She padded over to the woman and knelt at the cot, hovering her hand over Lily’s shoulder.

Hermione knew Harry had inherited Lily’s green eyes but to see it on another person was flooring. Lily’s eyes fluttered open even wider and she gasped when she saw Hermione.

“Who are you?” The witch demanded loudly, backing further into the cot. “Where am I? What happened?”

“Mrs Potter! Wait!” Hermione ordered kindly, trying to hold Lily down as the woman tried to sit up. Immediately, Lily froze. “How do you know my name?” She asked after a moment, her stunning green eyes narrowing.

“Ma’am. You need to stay calm.” Hermione said. Finally, Lily quieted. She stared at the younger woman, assessing her features. “What the hell is going on?” She asked, but then paled. “Where’s James? And Harry? Oh, my sweet Harry! Where is he?”

She tried to stand, without the blanket covering her bare body, but her legs buckled and she fell to the floor on her knees. Hermione covered Lily’s form with the thin blanket the redhead had slept in and Lily obligingly covered herself, thus becoming decent.

Lily gasped suddenly, patting her sides and looking for something that held value. “Where’s my wand?” She demanded desperately. “Where is it?”

Hermione held Lily’s shoulders. “Ma’am, I don’t know where your wand is!” But held tighter when Lily steered towards the entrance of the tent. The younger woman blocked the way to outside and shook her head. “Wait—do you remember what happened?”

Lily stopped and tears welled up in her eyes. “Yes. You-Know-Who got into our house. James—Oh, James. He tried to hold him off, but I heard the curse. I knew he was gone.” She wiped her eyes but continued on. “I blocked the door in the nursery and put Harry in the crib. But then he blasted the door apart and—and I begged him to have mercy and then—nothing. Everything was gone. I blacked out.” She looked up at Hermione. “Do you know what happened?”

“Yes, I do. B-But don’t freak out, okay?”

“Just tell me.”

“Well, when you blacked out, you actually...”

Suddenly there was a groan. “Lily pad?” Said woman gasped and turned to a spot she hadn’t sought out and rushed over to James, crying and weeping. Hermione saw Harry peeking out from the dingy bathroom nearby, tears streaming down his face.

“Oh James! I thought you died! You’re okay, you’re okay!” Lily wept as she cradled her husband, who blinked sleepily and looked around in confusion.

“Wha’ happened?” James mumbled.

Lily glanced at Hermione, frowning. “I never got your name...”

“Hermione. Hermione Granger.” The seventeen-year-old quipped helpfully. Lily nodded and turned back to James. “This young woman, Hermione Granger, was here when I awoke. I don’t know where we are or what happened...”

James eyes snapped open, him becoming alert. “Lily! Oh my God! Is Harry okay?” Lily turned back to Hermione again, her glare suddenly accusing. “And where is our baby, Miss Granger?” She asked in a deadly voice.

“Here.” Said a new voice. Lily and James turned around quickly to spot a teenage boy in dirty clothes, the spitting image of his father only with his mother’s green eyes. Only they were wet with tears and his bottom lip was quivering. He sniffled. “I’m here. I’m H-Harry Potter.”

Lily felt tears in her eyes again. “Harry? You’re all grown up... What in the world...?” She stepped closer to him but he flinched away, keeping his gaze to the floor.

Lily then paused and looked at her naked, dirt-covered self. She looked at Hermione and at Harry, who didn’t move an inch.

“We died.” She whispered. “There’s no doubt. I would never forget that sickening green spell...” She looked so sad and heartbroken. “What year is it?” She asked in a monotone voice. There was a profound silence before Hermione answered.

“December 25th, 1998.” Lily promptly burst into tears while James gaped like a fish. Harry was calming down some, but when James asked, “Where’s Remus, Sirius and Peter?” He cried even harder than before, sliding to the floor and burying his face into his arms. James’s heart sank. His son’s reaction to their names wasn’t a good thing.It brought bad news.

There was a lot of weeping and confusion for several minutes before it grew quiet, punctured only with soft sniffles. Lily sighed in defeat. “Okay. Miss Granger...”

“Hermione.” Said the young woman.

Lily nodded in response. “Hermione. Please explain to us what had happened in the last s-seventeen years.”

“Alright. When you died, er...Lily, your sacrifice protected Harry and when You-Know-Who cast the Killing Curse, it rebounded and hit him instead.”

“It rebounded?” Lily gasped.

Hermione nodded. “Yes. Your sacrifice created a barrier between Harry and the Curse, and your love protected him. It ended up with You-Know-Who without a body.”

“Horcruxes.” Lily whispered. Harry looked up in shock. “You know?”

Lily nodded. “Yes. We researched many things and Dumbledore told us of the Darkest arts the blasted wizard had done over the years. You know of them, too?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, his voice hoarse from crying, “We’re hunting them. Dumbledore left me behind information to his downfall.”

His mother’s eyes sharpened. “What?”

Recognizing the look, Harry rushed to explain. “Dumbledore died earlier this year. Snape killed him.”

“Severus?!” Lily screeched. “Severus Snape killed Albus Dumbledore?”

“Snivellius?” James roared. “I told you he wasn’t any good! And now look what he’s done! I hope Sirius offed him good!”

At the mention of his godfather’s name, Harry turned away so his father wouldn’t see his tears. But he did.

“Harry,” James started, “what happened to Sirius? Is he okay?”

Harry shook his head. “He died two years ago. In the Department of Mysteries.”

Taking a second to compose himself, James plowed on. “Remus?”

“Somewhere with the Order of the Phoenix. He’s fine, I hope.”

“Peter?”

Silence. Harry slowly turned to look at his father dead in the eyes and said brokenly, “He was your Secret Keeper. He betrayed you; he brought back You-Know-Who; he’s somewhere with the rest of the Death Eaters.”

James paled. “No... Peter. Why?” He shut his eyes and yelled, “Damn you, Peter!” Lily groaned, scrubbing at her face tiredly. “I-I need to think about all this. Process it.”

She looked around for someplace to sit and spotted Harry by the wall to the bathroom. She walked over to her husband and beckoned her son over to the pair. Harry looked very hesitant. Finally, with some reluctance, he stood and sat in the cot that was a bit crowded for all three of them.

“My baby...” Lily whispered, cradling his cheeks in her hands. “You’ve been through so much...”

Harry started crying for the third time that night. “Mum. I...”

“Yes?”

“I love you! I love you!” Once again he was mess of tears, but so were his parents, who were hugging and clinging onto him like the world was ending.

For that small moment of time, all was well.

**Author's Note:**

> It’s really interesting when I read Harry-Potter’s-parents-return!fics and so I wanted to do on myself. The fics I read were set in fourth of fifth year but I wanted the duo to get the shock of their lives in the darkest of times.


End file.
